[Vertigo 7]

I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with this. I'm not really wanting to hack my 360 so to speak but this crappy Hitachi/LG dvd drive just died on me (the damn thing isn't even 2 years old yet).

I'm out of warranty on this failure type so MS wont do a  damn thing about it. They want $99 to replace this $30 dvd drive. In 2 words, HELL NO! I'll just put a dvd drive in it myself, I'm more than capable of doing that. I've already completely dissasembled my 360 with out damaging any warranty stickers too

Anyway my question is, my dvd drive is the GDR-3120L rom ver 0079FK. If i order one with the exact same rom version, the easiest thing for me to do would be to swap the circuit board on the dvd drive, right?

If that doesn't work out... what exactly are my options? A few months ago I stumbled across this wonderfully put together web site that focused entirely on hacking/moding the 360 but I'll be damned if I can find it now.

[Inquisitor]

You could just tell them it red-ringed.

[Vertigo 7]

thats my last resort option. I've already told em that and they're sending me a box. But this if this can be a simple fix for me then I'll do it myself and have it fixed long before I can get it back from MS, not only that, they told me that if the repair center gets it and its not red ringing, they will send it back unrepaired.

I've actually found out what the problem is. I removed the back cover from the dvd drive and flipped it upside down. The spindle isn't holding the disc in place which is causing the disc to free spin inside the drive and vibrate badly at high RPM's. I'm gonna try a few things to see if i can fix the spindle. There's a rubber gasket on the spindle where the disc rests that just doesn't seem like it has the traction to hold the disc in place. I'm gonna try to clean it up and maybe see if i can beef it up some how. If that doesn't work I'll see if i can swap the spindle out from another cd or dvd drive.

[JGZinv]

Go read the xbox-scene forums, everything modding runs through there.

[Vertigo 7]

I didn't exactly find anything to address my specific issue but i was able to fix my drive! I took the whole damn dvd drive apart and discovered the magnet on top of the spindle had broken free of its base causing the discs to free spin in the drive. So i super glued it back in place, tweeked the motor mount screws a bit and now my drive is back to 100% Im so damn happy now. Never hadda fix a DVD drive before but now I know what to look for atleast